Joseph T. Burns: “I don't know of anything more frustrating to all of us who come from farm and ranch country than to try to get this…”

“I don't know of anything more frustrating to all of us who come from farm and ranch country than to try to get this taken care of. We tried to take care of it last year and didn't get it done. There was no urgency. We had a fairly good crop this year. We were not the epicenter of the drought. We have been in that bull's-eye now for 6, going on 7 years. It takes its toll not only on wells but reservoirs and streams. I am here in support of this because I will tell you that the Dakotas were the epicenter, and they helped us out when we needed it. We are going to try to help them out the best we can and do something. This year in range country, we probably had more range fires burning--over 800,000 acres in Montana alone. We had a lot of growth to our grass in the first part of the year. We hit July when it was terribly hot, and it became crisp. When August came, we got the fires. They were devastating, taking out fall pastures, hayfields, fences, even livestock, and we had to move a lot of livestock. We need to boost this legislation. We have it back down to where I think it is a pretty commonsense approach where nobody is getting rich. The only thing we are trying to do is just get the folks to next spring, get them into next year. That is what this piece of legislation is all about. There is nothing excessive in this piece of legislation or the money we will spend. There is not. All of that has been taken out. This is barebones.”